NEBRASKA

Transgender students banned from girls’ sports

LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on June 4 signed into law a measure banning transgender students from girls’ sports, making the state the latest to keep transgender athletes from competing on women’s and girls’ teams.

Pillen signed the law flanked by dozens of lawmakers, women athletes and other advocates — including former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines, who has made a name for herself as a vocal advocate of banning transgender athletes from women’s sports.

The measure passed by the Nebraska Legislature a week earlier broke a filibuster by a single vote cast along party lines. It was pared down from its initial form, which also sought to bar transgender students from using bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding with their gender identity.

The measure was first introduced in 2023 by then-freshman Sen. Kathleen Kauth, but failed to advance as lawmakers angrily argued over Kauth’s other bill that sought to bar gender-affirming care for transgender minors under the age of 19. An amended version that banned gender-affirming surgery — but not all gender-affirming care — for minors later passed and was enacted that year.

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Kauth promised to revive her bathroom and locker room ban next year, reiterating her rejection that people can determine their own gender.

Republicans behind the sports ban say it protects women and girls and their ability to fairly compete in sports. Opponents say with so few transgender students seeking to participate in sports, the measure is a solution in search of a problem.

Fewer than 10 transgender students have applied to participate in middle school and high school sports in the state since 2018, the Nebraska School Activities Association said.

NEW MEXICO

Lawsuit against oil, gas regulators rejected

SANTA FE — A New Mexico appeals court rejected a lawsuit alleging that the nation’s No. 2 oil-producing state failed to meet constitutional provisions for protecting against oil and gas industry pollution, in an opinion on June 3. Environmental advocates vowed to appeal the matter to the state’s top court.

A panel of three judges on the New Mexico Court of Appeals found that it was beyond the judiciary’s authority to weigh whether the pollution controls are adequate, writing that the state constitution directs the legislature to balance the benefits of environmental regulation with natural resources development.

The 2023 lawsuit from a coalition of environmental groups was the first to invoke the constitution’s pollution-control clause, a 1971 amendment requiring that New Mexico prevent the contamination of air, water and other natural resources.

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Gail Evans, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead counsel on the case, said the opinion would dismiss the case entirely if unchallenged and “displays a fundamental misunderstanding of our constitution and constitutional rights.”

The court challenge comes as New Mexico’s state government rides a wave of record income from development in the Permian Basin, one of the world’s most productive, oil-producing regions.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration is policing the industry with regulations that target methane and other emissions. But the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups say these efforts are not enough and that the state is failing to enforce existing pollution-control measures.

Wildfire damages Civil War-era site

SANTA FE — A wildfire swept through portions of a Civil War-era fort and historical site in southern New Mexico, forcing the evacuations of campgrounds and a horse ranch, authorities said on May 26.

The fire damaged structures at Fort Stanton Historical Site built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s and a gym erected by Germans interned at the site during World War II after their ship sank.

Ground crews, air tankers and helicopters joined efforts to contain a blaze that scorched more than a square mile of terrain at the site and surrounding conservation lands managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management.

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The blaze at Fort Stanton is about 15 miles away from communities at Ruidoso that were ravaged by wildfires last year when several hundred homes and businesses were destroyed. Those fires were followed by devastating flooding and erosion in scorched areas.

Horses and a family of four were first evacuated from a private ranch in the vicinity, but they had been allowed to return. Air tankers dropped fire retardant on the outskirts of the fire in efforts to slow its progress.

Fort Stanton Historical Site was closed and three nearby camping areas were evacuated. 

NORTH DAKOTA

Historic site’s toilets will finally flush

BISMARCK — Lawrence Welk didn’t have a flush toilet where he grew up, but visitors to his childhood home in rural North Dakota now do.

The bandleader’s childhood family home marks the latest step in the State Historical Society of North Dakota’s nearly completed goal of installing flush toilets at its dozen most popular, staffed sites. The most recent success, with the final three planned to be completed soon, came before the unveiling of a statue of Welk at a site that draws fans who recall “The Lawrence Welk Show,” which ran on TV for decades starting in the 1950s.

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The North Dakota group’s goal of replacing pit toilets with flush units may seem like a humble aspiration to some, but it’s an important milestone, said Chris Dorfschmidt, a historic sites manager.

“A lot of our sites are kind of in the middle of nowhere. As I like to put it, history didn’t happen where it’s convenient,” he said. “Because of that, if you’ve driven all the way out there, and that’s the best we can do to kind of accommodate you, it’s not the most pleasant experience.”

North Dakota has 60 state historic sites — everything from museums and an underground nuclear launch facility to plaques mounted on boulders in fields.

Less-visited sites that aren’t staffed likely won’t receive a restroom upgrade, which costs about $150,000 each.

At the Welk Homestead, about 50 miles southeast of Bismarck, workers matched the color scheme of the restroom to the house and farm buildings, including interior colors.

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